bananas Archives | The Vanilla Bean Blog

Banana Bread Scones with Toasted Sesame Icing

Sarah Kieffer — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:19:36 +0000

I make scones for every possible occasion, as they can be shaped ahead of time and frozen, then pulled out and baked as needed. I like them plain, packed with fruit, dusted in sugar, coated in icing, studded with chocolate and white chocolate and more chocolate, dotted with crystallized ginger and dried cranberries and poppy seeds and candied orange. Now I have banana-flavored scones to add to the mix. Since it’s impossible for me to choose between banana bread and scones for a favorite morning treat, I decided to find away to enjoy both. My secret to the flakiest scones includes folding the dough over several times to create multiple flaky layers, which helps the scones bake up tall and lofty. Please don’t skip icing the scones! Doing this while they’re still warm helps them stay tender for hours after baking.And the toasted sesame flavor really makes them shine. If you aren’t able to do toasted sesame oil, you can replace it with black strap rum or water. How I Make Sure Scones Keep Their Shape Sometimes the tip of the scone triangle will slip down the side of the scones during baking. I peek in the oven a couple times during the baking and […]

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Creamy Banana Bread Coffee Cakes

Sarah Kieffer — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 19:29:03 +0000

After making my Creamy Jammy Coffee Cakes and then Creamy Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cakes, I decided to experiment with banana bread as the base. I have been faithfully using this banana bread recipe for decades, but switched things up in 100 Morning Treats with a new recipe that doesn’t require a stand mixer. I use that new recipe here, with great results. These little banana streusel cakes bake up moist and flavorful, and pair beautifully with the cream cheese and pecan streusel. I use 4 inch [5 cm] springform pans to make these mini cakes, so they bake up with perfect edges, and release easily. They’re the perfect individual serving. You can also this recipe in a 9×13 inch pan if you’d like, it works great just as written. However, I’m always up for a more substantial cream cheese layer as you see in the photo below this paragraph. So for the filling I used 12 oz [340 g] cream cheese and 1/3 cup [65 g] granulated sugar, along with the 1 large egg. You’ll see the full notes for baking in this size of pan in the recipe card. How to Know When Your Mini Cakes are Done Baking The only tricky part about […]

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banana chocolate bundt cake

Sarah Kieffer — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 20:22:33 +0000

I have another pound cake/Bundt cake recipe for you: Banana Chocolate Bundt Cake. I recently found an old folder I thought I had lost – full of recipes from a coffeehouse I worked at in between my time baking at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse and Bordertown Coffee. This was one of my favorite Bundt cakes to make, although I couldn’t help myself and made some changes: I added more banana, swapped dried cherries for chocolate, and added a nice splash of black strap rum. I’ve made it several times now this week (both for testing and eating) and am happy with how it turned out. And, as much as I love my banana bread recipe, I think this comes in a very close second.I tried also making this as banana bread (dividing the batter in two loaf pans) and didn’t like how it turned out – I preferred this as a Bundt cake. Note: The trick to giving your banana cake a great flavor is to use very ripe bananas – the blacker the better. I like to freeze my peeled, ripe bananas in a freezer bag, and then move them from the freezer to the fridge the night before baking. […]

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Banana Layer Cake

Sarah Kieffer — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 04:44:42 +0000

written in 2016 My family is still fighting off colds and coughs and what-have-yous, so it may be very obvious as you read along that I have not had enough sleep this week, and have spent the majority of my days listening to chapter books being read, catching up on my multiplication tables, and watching too many episodes of whatever it is sick peeps want to watch (I’ll admit it’s funny, but my head is about to explode from Candace and Dr. Doofenshmirtz). But I did sneak in baking this banana layer cake, and I bring it to you just in time for the weekend. It’s found among the pages of Food 52’s Baking Book (affiliate link) a lovely collection of baking ‘best-ofs’ from the site. I’ve always had a thing for bananas in cake, although I rarely make it — chocolate seems to reign on high around here. This will have to be added to the rotation, however, as it’s so dang good and won’t be overlooked any longer come birthday time. The frosting in these photos is not the frosting in the recipe directions – I had a pile of this vanilla buttercream in my fridge, and decided to use it […]

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banana-chocolate-coffee muffins with whole wheat flour

Sarah Kieffer — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 03:52:48 +0000

I just got the notice, school is closed again due to cold weather. This never happens here in Minnesota, where we complain about the weather always but secretly pride ourselves in surviving it every winter. We are so strong, we can bike through blizzards! My daughter’s face will light up in the morning when she hears the news: you get to stay home yet again. She likes school just fine, but she loves home so much more. And I like home so much more, too; I enjoy days tucked snug in our little house. But there are moments where the walls feel a bit too close together, and we are bumping into each other all day long, snippy and snappy and dreaming of oceans. We pull out mixing bowls and curl up with the same old books; there becomes less and less to say to each other. ‘Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.’ (The Little Prince) I risk winter every year outwardly, but […]

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[baked] banana doughnuts [with coffee-cacao nib or peanut butter glaze]

Sarah Kieffer — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 03:15:00 +0000

I don’t know if this is the place for it, but I have to come out and say that I am still terribly upset about how this season of Downton Abbey ended. And yes, I had no idea it was coming, and yes, as [A] has pointed out to me several times it is just a TV show, but I’m still moping around. This has caused me to stay up way too late and do all sorts of reading about the show, where I found interesting articles about why this outcome is better for everyone and why it’s not the writer’s fault and whatnot. And then of course I’ve spent time chiding myself for caring so much about people who aren’t even real in the first place, and analyzing why books and shows have this kind of power over my emotions. But, of course, I’ll get over it. And all that lamenting and internet-surfing did actually pay off, as I came across a little interview with Julian Fellowes, who single handedly writes every episode of Downton. He was asked that lovely little question what advice can you give new writers? and his answer spoke to me on several levels. I’m […]

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Banana Espresso Muffins

Sarah Kieffer — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:18:00 +0000

Sometimes, if I close my eyes very tight, I can recall a short period of my life where Saturday mornings were a leisurely affair. There was no alarm that sounded: not from bedside clock, or dated cellphone, or upstairs crib. I would dreamily drift into the morning, allowing myself to wake up in my own.good.time. Aimlessly I would reach for my nightstand, grabbing the book I had left open the night before, and would proceed to lose myself in someone else’s adventure, pausing only to steal sleepy kisses with my Adam. The morning hours would then slip by and we would talk of breakfast, and coffee. Wandering down the street to a crowded cafe, we would indulge in something to fill our hungry bellies, something as simple and sweet as a muffin to take us to the afternoon. There, nestled together near a window, our respite seemed to stretch on for hours; our day seemed to be made just for young lovers to squander away.But now it is getting late, and I must close this book of faded memories. My eyes will open tomorrow before the sun rises high; I will awaken to little voices that run from sleep and […]

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banana bread

Sarah Kieffer — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:03:00 +0000

I know there are a million recipes for banana bread out there, all of them claiming to be the best. I I’ve tried many different variations over the years, from those made with whole wheat flour and flaxseed, to loaves that were chock-full of chocolate chips and peanut butter. They were all delicious.But there is one recipe that has traveled with me from coffeehouse to coffeehouse, and now is a staple in our home. I’ve given it a few adjustments over the years, but it hasn’t strayed much from the recipe we made at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse. I’m not going to lie. It’s not on the healthy end of the spectrum. This banana bread is rich and delicious, always moist, and full of banana flavor. And it’s the best. Secret to the Best Banana Bread: The trick to giving your banana bread a great flavor is to use very ripe bananas – the blacker the better. I like to freeze my peeled, ripe bananas in a freezer bag, and then move them from the freezer to the fridge the night before baking. As the bananas thaw, they leak a lot of banana juice. I put all the juice in […]

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